The Goat Has It

The Bag Lady was so lazy and slothful busy yesterday that she didn't have time to prepare a blog post! (Can you imagine anything taking precedence over blogging, for cryin' out loud!?)

Her cousin, Leah, who blogs over at the Goat's Lunch Pail, also claims she was scraping the bottom of the blogging barrel, but her post is far more amusing and informative than anything the Bag Lady could come up with today.

If you need an update on the latest accessory for those of us who are worried about the government reading our minds (and isn't that everyone?) and would like something a little more interesting than what the Bag Lady has to offer today, slip on over to check out what the Goat's having for lunch today!

Baby Clothes

The Bag Lady doesn't have a whole lot for you today. She spent most of yesterday hiding from the heat sewing and finally finished the gift she was working on for the Rancher's (now 2 month old!) grandchild.
She had a really hard time taking a decent picture of it. It looks weird in the photo. She hopes it won't look weird on the grandchild.....

She had a terrible time making up her mind about how to embellish the dress and finally asked the Rancher's opinion. The very first thing he said when he saw it was "Wow, that's cute!", which quite suprised her - he seldom pays attention to that kind of thing. The next surprise came when he picked the buttons and rickrack for the dress - his customary response is usually a shrug.

So here is the finished product:

She has a few other sewing projects underway right now, too (which is part of the reason this one took her so long....) and will probably spend more of the upcoming week huddled over her sewing machine in the cool bedroom to escape the forecasted hot weather!

Garden Tour

The Bag Lady thought she would share some pictures of her garden with you today.

She is very happy that the rain came when it did - her garden was very sad and pathetic-looking a mere couple of weeks ago. It is a lot happier now! (Please click on any of the pictures if you want a better view of how bad the weed situation is!)

She went out yesterday to have a look (and pull a few weeds), and was dismayed to find that, although they look okay from a distance, her peas have had a visitor!

Here is a closer view of what her resident mama deer has been having for a midnight snack:

Apparently, the deer isn't all that fond of potato tops, and could only finish half the row of peas.

She hasn't touched the grapevine, either.... (must be a teetotaler!)

Here is the assistant gardener, inspecting the onions.

The Bag Lady tied some strips of Bounce dryer sheets onto the chicken wire supporting her peas. She used that trick last year and it seemed to help. If it doesn't work this year, she will be forced to come up with a better solution.

Meanwhile, Back on the Ranch

The Bag Lady had a wild and crazy weekend.

Well, okay, maybe not. She and the Rancher did have some company on Saturday and a good time was had by all. About the only wild and crazy part, though, was the weather. There were some pretty intense thunderstorms that blew through, but nothing like what they had in Edmonton, where trees were knocked down all over the place and there was quite a lot of property damage.

Here is a picture she took of one of the storm fronts as it moved in.




Both Friday and Saturday were quite hot, and the Bag Lady felt a little sorry for the newest addition to the ranch. This calf was born on Friday and spent a lot of time just lying about in the hot sun!



His mother finally stood up and provided him with a little shade. He seemed none the worse for wear on Sunday, though, and was bouncing and running with the rest of the calves. There are still a few more calves to be born (this has been the longest calving season yet on the ranch!), but they probably won't arrive for a couple more weeks.

Kitchen Experiments

The Bag Lady has been hard at work in her test kitchen.

She was doing some experimenting and made her own home-grown, all-natural, organic garlic powder yesterday! It turned out very well. Well enough, in fact, that she is thinking of doing more. It was fun. She might try making onion powder, too.

She loves experimenting with things like that, and is working on perfecting some dried spice mixes for dips and sauces. Garlic and hot pepper? Chive and dill? Onion, spinach and garlic? It's fun to think up combinations.

She and the Rancher had their first feed of beets from the garden, did she tell you? They were really good. And the Rancher has been pestering her for some time now to cook beet greens for him. She had never eaten beet greens, so was hesitant. (She was afraid they would taste like cooked spinach, which she really does not care for!) She finally broke down and cooked some and was pleasantly surprised that they tasted quite good. But she was also a wee bit dismayed at how those huge leaves shriveled up to such a teensy tiny little amount. It's a good thing she cooked both the beets and the greens!

She has to go to town today, but perhaps later on this afternoon she will get around to making a batch of dilled carrots. They are so-o good! And the carrots are perfect right now - just the right size to fit in the jars.

Here's a picture for you that has absolutely nothing to do with this post! She just thinks it's pretty.



Have a great weekend!

A Mixed Bag

The Rancher and the Bag Lady went for a little walk in the woods the other evening, and saw all kinds of interesting things. As the Bag Lady stumbled along, she spied these in the bushes:
(click on any of the pictures to enlarge)

They are dewberries, and they are delicious! Similar to raspberries in appearance, but sweeter. These were ripe enough to eat, but when they are really ripe, they are more of a purple colour.

A little further down the trail, the Bag Lady's eye was caught by these pretty little flowers. She fumbled around, trying not to drop any of her dewberries, and managed to take this picture:

She has no idea what either of the flowers in this picture are (and is hoping her cousin's husband will be able to identify them!) The pink ones are what caught her eye - the white one just happened to be close enough to be included in the picture.

Later, on their drive home, she finally managed to get a picture of the geese at this dugout along the road. She has not had an opportunity to capture them before now, but she has been watching the babies grow!

And, speaking of babies, she was a little surprised when she went out to check cows yesterday morning and discovered this little guy!


His mother was a little secretive about when she planned to introduce him to the world, but he was worth waiting for.

And lastly, here is a picture for Mizfit's Tornado, since she likes the pictures of the cows. Some of you may remember the calf from last year who liked to undo the gates. Turns out he also has a penchant for chewing on the Bag Lady's flannel shirt (that she wears in the evening to keep the mosquitoes from eating her alive when she's out in the pasture.)


And that's what's been happening on the ranch lately!

Swan-ermelon

Here is the swan that the Bag Lady carved out of a watermelon. It looks a little worse for wear because it's been a few days.....


Here's the newest addition to the ranch:

And the first bunch of new carrots from the garden:

The Bag Lady's garden is doing quite well now that it has received some rain. The peas are starting to produce pods, and the beets are probably big enough to eat. The corn probably won't amount to anything, and the beans are slow, but will probably start flowering soon.